Wire connecting device



April 25, 1944. BURNS 2,347,540

WIRE CONNECTING DEVICE Filed Sept, 7 1942 Patented Apr. 25, 1944 WIRE CONNECTING DEVICE Leroy H. Burns, Cleveland, Ohio, minor to The National Telephone Supply Company, a corporation of Ohio Application September 7, 1942, Serial No. 457,607

6 Claims.

My invention relates to improvements in wire connecting devices and more particularly to wire connecting devices in the form of a sleeve for making joints in wires by compressing the sleeve upon the wires to be joined.

An object of my invention is to provide for coating the inside wall of a sleeve with a hard material which has the property of penetrating the inner wall of the sleeve and the outside surface of the wires to be joined.

Another object of my invention is the provision of coating the inner wall of a wire connecting sleeve with a layer of wire engaging material composed of a mixture of metal and glass, so that when the sleeve is compressed upon the wires to be joined the glass acts as an abrasive between the wire and the sleeve to produce a high holding power for joining the wires together.

Another object of my invention is to provide for coating the inner wall of a wire connecting sleeve with a thin layer of wire engaging material comprising metal and small pieces of glass embedded therein.

Another object of my invention is the provision of a coating for the inner wall of a wire connecting sleeve which comprises metal and granules or small pieces of glass embedded therein. wherein the metal may be selected to correspond substantially with the metal of the wires to be joined to prevent electrolytic action of the metal at the joint. In the case of electric conductin wires, I provide for using in combination with the glass particles, metal of good electrical conductivity, so that the joint is of low resistance.

Other objects and a fuller understanding of my invention may be had by referring to the following descrlption and claims, taken in conjunc- 'tion with the accompanying drawing, in which:

Figure 1 is an end view of a plurality of my connecting sleeves arranged in a holding device preparatory to coating the inside wall thereof;

Figure 2 is a side view of the sleeve in Figure 1 with one connecting sleeve being more predominantly shown than the others, together with a spray gun for coating the sleeve;

Figure 3 is a fragmentary view of a wire having glass on the outside thereof which may be used in the spray gun for spraying molten metal and glass on the inner surfaces of the sleeve;

Figure 4 is a longitudinal cros-sectional view of a sleeve having the inner wall thereof "coated with metal and glass embedded therein;

Figure 5 is a cross-sectional view of the sleeve in Figure 4, taken along the line 5-5 thereof Figure 6 is a longitudinal cross-sectional view showing the wires inside the sleeve and after compression has been applied to the outside of the sleeve; and

Figure 7 is a cross-sectional view of Figure 6 taken along the line 1-! thereof.

With reference to the drawing, my invention comprises coating the inner surface of a hollow metal sleeve ID with a layer of wire engaging material indicated by the reference character '4 and comprising metal and small pieces of glass embedded therein. The finished sleeve is shown in Figure 4 and comprises a tubular body of suilicient length to receive the ends of the wires H to be joined. The center portion of the sleeve may be rolled as indicated at 20 in order to provide a restriction in the internal diameter of the sleeve to act as a stop for the insertion of the wires from opposite ends of the sleeve. In other words, the internal stop afiorded by the external rolling of the sleeve prevents one wire from going beyond the longitudinal center of the sleeve in which event the other wire would not have the full benefit of the engagement by the sleeve. Prior to the application or the spraying of the mixture of metal and glass to the inner wall i3 of the sleeve, I preferably provide for sandblasting the inner wall [3 to give a roughened and clean surface free of oxidation and other constituents. 1

One manner of coating the inner wall l3 of the sleeve is illustrated in Figures 1 and 2 of the drawing and consists of grouping together a plurality of the sleeves to be coated and spraying them with a wire having glass on the outside thereofl- Such a wire is indicated generally by the reference character 2|, wherein the wire is designated by the reference character [5 and the glass on the outside thereof is indicated by the reference character l8, see Figure 3. The glass i6 may be in the form of fiber glass woven or otherwise wound about the wire [5 to give a good covering. The glass may be shellacked or treated with any other suitable material to bind the glass to the wire I5 so that as the end of the wire is melted the fiber glass does not unravel but remains permanently attached to the wire at the point where the wire and the glass is fused.

..F'or convenience, Lemploy a hollow container l2 which has an open top and bottom to hold the group of sleeves while spraying them but other means such as any suitable fastening device may be used. After grouping the plurality of sleeves Ill in the container II, the containeris tilted at a slight angle for the operators convenience and a spray of metal and glass is directed down the of sleeves within the container. The spray impinges the sleeves for substantially one-half of their longitudinal length. After spraying the upper end of the sleeves I 0, the operator turns the container i2 end for end and repeats the spraying process. The tubular body of the sleeve is made of malleable metal and may be pressed about the wires to be joined by any suitable means or other arrangement of dies for rolling tools. In actual practice, I preferably compress the sleeve about the wires to be joined by means of a constant movement toggle clamping tool having clamping dies for engaging the sleeve at spaced intervals. A constant movement toggle type of compression tool is arranged to move the dies inwardly during the compression of the sleeve about the wires a definite amount as determined by the adjustment or setting ofthe tool. I am not limiting myself to the type of tool for compressing the sleeve about the wires to be joined as a screw or cam actuated press, or a hydraulic ram can be used and are even more desirable on the larger sizes than a constant movement toggle tool. Other tools which can be used are the impact tool and the rolling tool. The Figure 6 shows a sleeve which has been compressed by a constant movement toggle tool and the reference character ll represents the compressed portions along the sleeve as effected by the die of the constant movement toggle tool. The flashes or the flow of excess metal between the mating edges of the dies of the tool are indicated by the reference character l8. When the sleeve is compressed, the small pieces of glass which are embedded into the thin coating on the inner wall of the sleeve act as an abrasive between the wire and the sleeve to give a good gripping engagement between the sleeve and the wire. The small pieces of glass which penetrate the wire is indicated by the reference character 19. 7

Experience shows that glass alone when sprayed upon the inner wall of a sleeve does not remain securely anchored to the sleeve. In my invention I embed thin pieces of glass in metal which holds the small pieces of glass to the inner surface of the sleeve. In this manner I am able to use glass as a good gripping material. Another feature arising from the use of metal to hold the glass to the inner wall of the sleeve is that the metal may be selected to correspond substantially with the outer surface of the wire to be joined to prevent electrolytic action between the joint connection. Thus, for example, if the wires to be joined are copper, then I preferably use a copper sleeve with copper and glass as the spraying combination. If the wire is covered with a galvanized coating, then I preferably use a zinc coated sleeve with zinc and the glass as the spraying combination. If the wire is a bare steel wire then I preferably use a steel with steel and glass as the spraying combination.

When an electrolytic action takes place, the metal of the joint is eaten away, which may eventually result in a bad joint. In my invention, this 1 with the glass as a spray, I add zinc to the joint which serves as sacrificial zinc tofurther protect the joint against electrolytic deterioration.

In the case of copper electrical conductor, I use copper in combination with the glass as a spray, and in this manner I am able to obtain a joint of good electrical conductivity as well as one with a strong holding power as afforded by the glass particles or granules. The proportion of glass to metal in the spray may be varied to suit the nature of the joint. For a joint requiring high holding power, the glass content may be large. Where good conductivity is important, the metal content may be large.

The terms wire and tubular body as used herein are not limited to the showings in the drawing, as obvious variations may be employed. The endto-end disposition of the joined wires to give a butt connection is not necessarily restricted to the arrangement illustrated in the drawing, as such variations maybe made that fall within the scope of the invention as claimed.

Although I have described my invention with a certain degree of particularity, it is understood that the present disclosure has been made only by way of example and that numerous changes in the details of construction and the combination and arrangement of parts may be resorted to without departing from the spirit and the scope of the invention as hereinafter claimed.

I claim as my invention:

1. A wire connecting sleeve comprising a tubular body formed of malleable metal whose inner wall carries a relatively thin layer of wire engaging material composed of a mixture of metal and glass.

2. A wire connecting sleeve comprising an exte-- rior tubular body formed of malleable metal and an interior tubular body of thinner construction than the exterior body and composed of a mixture of metal and glass.

3. A wire connecting sleeve comprising a tubular body formed of malleable metal whose inner wall carries a relatively thin layer of wire engaging material composed of a mixture of zinc and glass.

4. A wire connecting sleeve comprising a tubular body formed of malleable metal whose inner wall carries a relatively thin layer of wire engag- 11118 material composed of a mixture of copper and g ass. i

5. A wire connecting sleeve comprising a tubular body formed of malleable metal whose inner wall carries a relatively thin layer of wire engaging material composed of a mixture of metal and glass, the metal of said mixture being substantially the same as the metal of the tubular body.

6. A wire connecting sleeve comprising a tubular body formed of malleable metal whose inner wall carries a relatively thin layer of wire engaging material comprising metal and small pieces I glass embedded therein,

LEROY H. BURNS. 

